The headliner of the event was Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, but it wasn't his endorsement of Senate candidate Scott Brown that people were talking about.

"It is not easy to run for office," said U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte. "We all know that."

Ayotte took on the role of fence-mender after the primary, as Republican congressional candidates Frank Guinta and Marilinda Garcia rallied the troops, along with re-energized candidate for governor Walt Havenstein.

The big sign of GOP unity came with Bob Smith endorsing Brown after an often-bitter Senate primary.

"Their side won in the primary," Smith said. "And I think we unite and move forward to win and beat Jeanne Shaheen, and that's the message I gave to Scott, and that's the pledge I gave to him."

"So we are looking forward to the battle ahead," Brown said. "It's going to be fun but hard, and we are going to talk about the issues."

Paul is considering a presidential run in 2016, but in 2014, he said his eye is on the Affordable Care Act.

"We've taken away choice, we're destroying the greatest health care system in the world and we're losing our freedom in the process," he said.

While the GOP was closing ranks, the state Democratic Party continued to probe for weak spots.

"It's quite interesting you'd have somebody as controversial as Rand Paul come in for their unity when you have a Massachusetts guy running for Senate and a guy from Maryland running for governor," said state Democratic Party chairman Ray Buckley.

Such criticisms will likely be heard many more times in the weeks leading up to the general election on Nov. 4.